Alive
by ellajanefowl
Summary: One-shot. Comes after TLG so spoilers (obviously) Contains some nice, happy ending, fluffiness. :) Just something that has been in my head for forever! Should be noted that this is my first fanfic.


**Author's Note:**** Hi there! I am ellajanefowl and I am new to this universe! I have been reading fanfiction for years and have always meant to write a story. I imagine them all the time, this time I wrote it down. Hope you enjoy and feel free to review. Positive, negative, neutral, whatever! **

**Disclaimer:**** No, I am sorry. I am not Eoin Colfer. Therefore I don't own Artemis Fowl. Check back next time I post a story. Maybe then I'll be Colfer.**

I sigh, looking at myself in the mirror. I am a wreck. Bags under my eyes, hair all over the place, clothes rumpled from sleeping in them, shoulders sagging, forehead creased from worry and stress. What a sight.

I turn and watch him sleep. Admire the beauty of his chest rising and falling, the peacefulness on his face. I wonder in the fact that _he was alive. _After those months. Those horrible months of waiting, wondering, worrying. All those sleepless night filled with terrible nightmares. I watched him die over and over again for six months. I was on the verge of cracking when Foaly told me. It's almost time.

Then I worried whether it would work. Maybe we were making a terrible mistake. But those words I uttered on the night I almost lost him (gods but it seems like a century ago) were so true. I can't live without him. He's part of me. I needed him alive so that I could continue living. But still I worried. To have this hope crushed; it would be the literal death of me. And so the sleepless nights continued. Until that day.

We brought the chrysalis. It was the first time I had seen him. It was wonderful just to see him even though I knew he truly wasn't there. Time was of the essence, not only for his sake but for ours. This was so illegal there probably wasn't even a law against it. But then he never was one for following the rules. Come to think of it, neither am I.

And then he awoke. Frond, it was the most amazingly beautiful thing. To see his eyes open, his chest move. I wept. He was back from the dead. For nothing defeats a Fowl. So he couldn't remember. No big deal. He would eventually. For now, who cared? He was alive!

Frond bless Foaly for rigging it so that I could stay with him as long as I wanted. To be honest I never want to leave him. Every time I let him go his own way, something happens. He has been alive for several days now. He doesn't really remember much, though every now and then something triggers a small recall. Nothing major though. And my sleeplessness continues. I worry that something's gone wrong. That he won't be the same, that he won't remember, and every time he goes to sleep he won't wake up again. But he's here. That's what I need to focus on.

He shifts slightly. I smile simply because he's alive. He sits up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

"Good morning," he mumbles running his fingers through his mussed, raven hair.

"I would guess from the sunlight coming in the window that it's after 10. What time is it exactly?"

Frond, his voice! He's talking to me! "It's 10:22." I reply. "You were right, as usual."

He grins. "Of course I was. I am always right."

I grin back. "Even when you're wrong."

"Of course."

He climbs out of bed and nonchalantly pulls his shirt off over his head. I turn and look out the window as he changes. His inhibitions have completely disappeared. I hope for his sake that they come back. The average person does not appreciate a complete stranger disrobing in front of him.

"I'm good now," he tells me.

I turn back to him and can barely contain my laughter. If only he realized what an unforgivable offence this would be to the real him. Jeans and a t-shirt. And, Frond forbid, sneakers!

"You are strange," he says with a confused look on his face, striding over to join my by the floor-length mirror. "I see nothing the least bit funny."

As we stand, side-by-side, looking at the mirror his face suddenly becomes devoid of all emotion. He stares at his reflection, then mine, and then his again. There is a seriousness in him that I have not seen since he awoke on that glorious day. It worries me. I begin to question him when he interrupts.

"Your eyes…" he says, touching the mirror where my face is then turning and cupping my face in his hands. "They're different." He stares into my eyes for a moment then releases me and turns back to the mirror.

"Artemis?" I ask, but he ignores me, intent on staring at himself in the mirror.

"My eyes…" he whispers touching the one that used to be hazel. The one that used to be mine. "They're the same." Suddenly his eyes widen and he breathes in sharply.

"What's wrong?" I ask worriedly. My worst fears are coming true, something was wrong. Horribly, terribly…

"Holly." he says.

My name. He said my name.

Dropping to his knees so that he can look me in the eye, he says it again.

"Holly."

There is such feeling in that one word. Just the fact that he remembers my name is amazing but the way he said it. He was saying "I remember. I remember everything. The People, magic, Butler, Opal. I remember how we saved the world and each other countless times. I remember you."

"Artemis," I whisper, my eyes filling with tears. "Artemis."

"Holly." He says again tears streaming down his own cheeks. "I missed you."

I burst into tears, throwing myself into his arms. "I missed you too." I sob. "I missed you so much."

We hold each other tight, crying. I bury my face in shoulder as he presses his cheek against my hair. The feeling of him touching me, his scent, the feeling of his heartbeat, and the sound of him crying. It's beautiful.

He pulls back and laughing through his tears says, "I'm back. I'm alive."

I laugh through my own tears. I have never been so happy. "I know." I reply. "I know."

He kisses my cheek, my forehead, my hair. I cup my hands around his cheeks. We smile at each other, lost in happiness that he is alive.

"Promise me that you will never, EVER, pull a stunt like that again," I say, trying to sound angry.

He laughs out loud. "I promise."

Our laughter rings out through the house, drawing the rest of the household. Never have there been so much laughter and so many tears. I am so happy I can't bear it. I can live again. He's here. He's back. He's alive. And all is right with the world.


End file.
